BATAVIA, Ohio — Runners from the Tri-State Running Company have been taking a new route every Monday this summer.
Instead of running as a group like usual, each person is picking up a leash instead and taking a dog from the Clermont County Animal Shelter for a jog.
For the runners, it's the exercise they want. For the dogs, it's the exercise they need.
"Dogs like to run. They like to sniff. They like to see things," said Tim Pappas, chief dog warden for Clermont County and director of the Clermont County Animal Shelter. "They like to just be out and when people were running, they liked doing the same thing. They like just to be out and exercising and the dogs are the same way."
Pappas said a volunteer with the shelter came up with the idea and it's been such a success, he's hoping to expand it to other days during the week.
Erin Jackson from the Tri-State Running Company agrees.
"I think it's fantastic," Jackson said. "They need to be exercised. That helps them have a better attitude. It helps them sleep, makes them generally a happier animal. And you need to run. I need to run anyway, so why not?"
The runners meet at the shelter. They are given a dog on a leash and usually run about a mile with them, then trade out for a different dog to exercise.
For the dogs, who are indoors about 23 hours a day, getting all of their energy out is not only fun but important to their overall temperament.
"It's just heartwarming," Pappas said. "You see these same dogs in the same kennel and you see a body language change and you see the ears come up and you see them pulling and they just want to go, go, go. It's just that in itself is just so heartwarming because you know that that's that's their playtime and that's their time of not seeing four walls and it's their time of being able to just be a dog."
It's a simple solution that solves a problem — a few steps, or paws, in the right direction.
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